When Huen Tsang visited India in the 7th century, he wrote about a king in Maharashtra who was able to ‘treat his neighbors with contempt’. He called the king ‘Pu-lo-ki-she’ aka Pulakesin II. According to Huen Tsang, even Harsha could not put a dent in his ambitions.
Pulakesin II belonged to the Chalukya dynasty which hailed from Karnataka and within a few generations had established a kingdom with its capital at Vatapi (now Badami). To celebrate their successes, they built a series of temples. One of the temples built at Aihole had the date equivalent to 636 AD, making it one of the oldest dated temples in India.
Another one, the Jogulamba Devi temple at Alampur was attacked by Muslims in 1390 AD. The local people put a good resistance, killed the invaders and moved the idol to a nearby temple, but the temple was razed to the ground. Now, after 615 years that temple has been reconstructed.
The Jogulamba temple was reconstructed at the same place where it stood. The temple was rebuilt in the same way it was described in the `Rasaratnakaram’ of Nityanatha Sidha of 12th century AD. Sankaracharya was believed to have installed `Sri Chakra’ at Jogulamba temple, which is not available now.
Since the Alampur temple complex was declared a heritage site, the supporters of Jogulamba temple had a difficult time to convince the Archaeological Survey of India and the State Government to revive the temple.
The temple was designed to match the Chalukyan architecture so that the new temple would fit into the group of temples.[Jogulamba Devi temple at Alampur rebuilt after 615 years via IndiaArchaeology]
Related Links: Pictures from Alampur
JK, I’m now reading a book called Sivagamiyin Sabadham – by tamil writer Kalki. It’s actually a story of the two great Pallava Kings – Mahendravarman and Narasimha Varman. The story describes the war between Pulakesin II and Mahendravarman.
Makes for brilliant reading.
Ravages, Is an English translation available ? Do you know any other Indian historical novels in English ?
I think an english translation is available.
Fellow blogger Pavithra has translated Sivagamiyin Sabadham, and Kalki’s classic Ponnyin Selvan has an english version (which falls way short of the original). Ponniyin Selvan is about Raja Raja Cholan.
Here is the link to pavithra’s SS trans – http://www.sivagamiyin-sabadham.blogspot.com/
Are the english translations available as books ? If its available online, that will be great. If there is any bookstore in Chennai sells it, that’s also fine.
I have not read many Indian historical novels. There was one by M T Vasudevan Nair called “Randaam Uzham” (available in English as The Second Turn). The Malayalam was beautiful writing, but the English translation did not capture the beauty of of those words. This one is Mahabharata told from Bhima’s point of view.
JK,
There is an online version available, of PS, but I am not sure of the link. I have asked a friend who read it online to send the link to me. Once I get it, I shall forward it to you.
The English version is also available as a book, and is available in Madras. But, if you can read and understand tamil, I suggest you read the original.
Kalki wrote three magnificient Historical Novels – Two on the Cholas and one on Pallavas.
And all three are masterpieces – my favourite is PS though – I have a bias in favour of Raja Raja Cholan
Alampur[city of temples] is a one of the 18 shaktipethas.Jogulamba is the main diety in Alampur.Lord shiva is in the form Bala brahmeswara swamy.Thera are also nava Brahma temples in Alampur which are very old . All of them are Under the control of Archeological department.